The Gulf Coast Consortium Veterinary Training Program in Comparative Medicine (GCC), composed of 3 universities (The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, and Baylor College of Medicine), will offer a 3-year program to provide veterinarians with specialty training in the care and use of laboratory animals and research in a biomedical research environment. This program will fulfill a recognized need to establish a pipeline of veterinarians with such training due to the increased demands for this expertise. Over a 5-year grant period (with non-grant funding for the third year of each trainee), this program will train 3 participants who will be recruited from veterinary schools or clinical practice. The goals of the program are to train competent laboratory animal veterinarians, preparing them to become diplomates in the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM), and to provide them collaborative research opportunities in animal model development and translational research. In Year 1, trainees will complete clinical rotations at the participating institutions. Year 2 will be devotedto a research project under a well-established research mentor. Year 3 will be composed of clinical care at the participant's parent institution (50% of time) and completing data collection and writing a manuscript for publication (50%). The GCC program's didactic curriculum will cover areas of clinical medicine, pathology, regulations, animal care management, facility design, budgetary issues, security, biostatistics, research methods, epidemiology, and responsible conduct of research, authorship, and ethics. A seminar series (including journal clubs, case presentations, and histopathology slide conferences), 2 semester-long graduate-level courses, and hands-on laboratory training have been integrated into the curriculum. Participants will gain experience with many different species. Participants may pursue an MPH degree. A Program Advisory Committee will provide quarterly reviews of the program and the progress of the trainees. A Research Advisory Committee will provide oversight of the research component. An External Advisory Committee reviews the entire program. The consortium was originally formed in 2007 with recognition through ACLAM as a 2-year program. Three trainees are currently enrolled in the 2-year program, which forms the basis for the proposed 3-year program; the Program Advisory Committee, didactic courses, evaluation plan, and seminar programs are already established. The major components added to this program are the 1 research-focused year, the Research Advisory Committee composed of externally funded research mentors committed to hosting the trainees, and the External Advisory Committee. The lead GCC faculty have been training veterinarians in comparative medicine for over 10 years. Of the 9 postdoctoral fellows who have completed our program, 1 is now a diplomate of ACLAM, 7 are still practicing in the field of laboratory animal medicine, 1 is board eligible this year, and 4 should be board eligible next year.